The Nettles Family Blog

HE GOT US A HOUSE!

You can just go ahead and pick me up out of my puddle of happiness now because I seriously can’t believe it! HE GOT US A HOUSE!!! If you talk to Greg, he’ll correct that statement by saying He allowed us to buy a house but that is sooooo boring because HE GOT US A HOUSE! Even talking to our realtor, she said, it certainly seems like He moved heaven and earth for you guys to get this! hehehe Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! And what a fine house it is.

So here’s the story. I have wanted a house since I was mmmm probably about four? I would ride my bike around the neighborhood and pick out all the houses that needed some love, and then draw up what I would do to them. You think I’m kidding. I’m not. I’ve always been this weird. This has been my favorite thing to do basically since I came out of the womb. When all the other kids were watching cartoons and trendy shows, I was hooked on HGTV and had absolutely no one my age to relate to. I’d try to figure out how long it would take me to save my allowances, get overwhelmed and continue to drift away in my dream land where everything was possible. Once out of college, I’d sit in my car on my lunch breaks and try to figure out how long it would take me to save up for a place of my own. I think I calculated I would be 97 by the time I could actually afford the down payment for something here, so then I’d get overwhelmed and drift away to my happy place once again. I love houses. I’ve always loved houses. And I love to love on houses. Nothing makes me happier than fixing something up and making it loved and pretty again. Pasadena was SO ugly and gross but it was awfully satisfying to scrub the brown out of the sink and make it glistening white again.

Anyways, so we’ve been back in Santa Cruz for *gasp* nine. months. Oh. My. Goodness. It’s kind of comical that we thought we’d only live with my parents for a month or two. BUT as we watched the months tick away, it did allow us to save more than we would be able to anywhere else. We were able to be here for some really challenging family situations and hopefully be a comfort to my parents in that time. Sometimes I just do not understand His timing, but to look back and be reassured that He knew what He was doing, is such a source of faith strengthening for me. Once Greg got his job, we finally were able to get pre-approved again which meant we could start looking for a place to call our own! Talk about discouraging. There is nothing in Santa Cruz right now. Everyone kept warning us that inventory is low and the prices are rising. And it was, and they were. But that didn’t get me down! The jolly holiday inside of me kept saying I’ll take anything! and, we only need one! And that’s what we did. One of the first places we went to was a tiny little place just a couple blocks from the beach. And it was ugly. But to me it was a world of possibilities and although I had nightmares about it closing in around me since it was only 900 sq ft and smashed between two gargantuan residences, I reminded myself it was only blocks from the beach and we could just cure our claustrophobia by spending all of our time there! But… lemme just show you ;)

We looked at a giant condo that I was sure Greg would love – it was a great location and was new (he likes new, I like ooooold) and I was totally willing to compromise just so we could get into something, but to my surprise, he didn’t fall for it. Do you know how hard it is to walk away from something when there is a very good chance there will not be anything else for a while!? Very. It is very hard.

But I remembered back to when I was crying in my chair, completely out of patience and so ready to give up, and He whispered to me… don’t you worry Hilly. I’m gunna get you something. So when God whispers something to you, you have to listen! Because there are plenty of other thoughts that will say there is no way He said that to you, there is obviously nothing out there.. and then the discouragement comes yadda yadda yadda. SO since this was the only hope I had, I was going to cling to it with all my everything… And when my husband says to walk away from the perfectly good condo, we will walk… in faith, trusting He would provide and bring us together in agreement on such a monumental decision. Well, that night I reminded him of the little beach house that I loved so much that he HATED (please refer to picture above), and said please please please can we put an offer on it?? They could always reject it! That happens all the time! And considering every house we have looked at has had at least five cash offers on them, the chance of us getting anything is so unbelievably slim! And after much pleading, we decided with much heavy sighing and worried looks on his part, to put in an offer in the morning.

That morning, all these issues came up with the loan type we were going after plus issues with the house, sellers, basically everything. It didn’t look like it was going to work for us so Greg and Debi put their heads together and after much talking and trying to figure out all the options possible, came up with a new plan. And this is where things get fuzzy because I have no idea how any of this miraculous business happened. Our realtor (Debi) sent us a house to go look at which I just laughed at because it was so adorably gorgeous and there was just no way. But HEY we like to look at houses we can’t afford – it appears to be a hobby of ours ;) so we went to check it out. You guys. I have NEVER seen so many people in an open house before. It was flooded! I went in and just wanted to cry. It was so perfect and so old and so US! Many many months ago I prayed, Dear Jesus if there is one thing I could request in a house and if not it’s totally okay because I’ll take anything but if there is one thing, can you just let it have pretty windows? Oh my goodness were these windows pretty! They are HUGE and let in LOADS of light and they are old and beautiful and have the most glorious hardware. Greg can’t see it and thinks the hardware looks cheap and flimsy but NO! It’s GORGEOUS! So anyways, I didn’t even look around all the house because I was so overwhelmed with why our realtor would even show this to us when we clearly could not afford it. It seemed so impossibly out of reach but at the same time I had this weird unexplainable peace.

As this one guy stood in the corner and talked about how he’d like to knock down all the walls and open it up, my little heart was saying no no no! It’s so beautiful and charming and the history! They say it was built in 1886 but the previous owner thinks it might be older. We have the pictures of the family that lived there back then and the farm that surrounded it and ahhhh! It’s just so cool! It has so much character, it brings the squeals right out of me! Anyways, we left and Greg was like, what did you think?! and I just laughed at him. There were no words. I told him this was my Netflix of houses – something so perfect but totally unattainable without the help of our great God who apparently is still in the business of doing some pretty awesome miracles. He got Greg his dream job and I just knew if this wasn’t the house for us, there would be another one. So we put it in His hands and tried our best to not worry about an outcome that was so impossible anyways ;) But there were so MANY little things that said and this is for you… and this is for you…. like, the windows.. like, how when you looked out of the window upstairs, all you could see were trees – that’s the thing I loved most about my parents house and have wished since I was a little girl that I could find a property that had a similar view… the layout was my ideal… the backyard was HUGE… and did I mention it even had a detached artists studio!? AND IT’S MORE THAN 900 sq ft! AND IT HAS ROOM TO GROW AND AND AND. Anyways, I’ll spare you the whole drawn out process of how we actually came to put in an offer but we did! We submitted our little story with picture included and a couple days later, received word that we got it… WHAAAAT!? They had a full cash offer and our wayyy under listing price offer…. and they picked ours!? And not only that, they didn’t even wait another week for more offers to come in! That is unheard of in this market! Then there was the whole coming up with the funds bit that haha we had to use some shall we say, God math, because seriously, I have no idea how that happened. Seriously. No idea.

It came on the market the day Greg started his job. It has His fingerprints all over it. I cannot believe it’s ours. So let’s hold on to that happiness because today we went to get it ready to get tented and it hit us how much work it needs. hehehe… we both left just a touch overwhelmed but come three days from now, I’m rolling up my sleeves and diving headfirst into projects projects projects. I can’t sleep at night I’m so excited!!! To Him be the glory because seriously, wow.

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YEAH!!!! THANK YOU, JESUS! You are the best, most wonderful giver of great gifts!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! What an loving Father you are!
CONGRATULATIONS!
I’m so, so, SO HAPPY for you guys! It’s the BEST little house! Perfectly, perfect in every way!! As soon as the wedding is over I’m here to help! I can’t believe it! A new house – and it’s yellow and has stairs and a window seat and a BIG yard and trees, & more trees and vines! I’m gonna be happy ALL week!